Open For Design – Denver Art Museum Community Challenge

Denver Art Museum invited its community to exhibit self-made creations in the museum’s first-ever show made entirely of visitor works. I couldn’t resist.

The museum’s challenge -

Transform an everyday object or material into something that makes your neighborhood a better place.

Make it fit within a 2′ x 2′ x 2′ space. 3D or 2D.

Don’t make it of food, plants, balloons.

The 165 submissions ranged from highly developed sculptures to quick sketches. Some good, some great, some, well, a little less than both – but all fun and thoughtful. A video interview of participants discussing their works is quite enjoyable as well. Object labels were written by the artists (and hand lettered painstakingly by someone with sore wrists in the exhibits department). The show runs through early September 2012.

For my piece, I created a small outdoor free library. After the exhibit it’ll find its new home at the street in front of the studio. The library is made of recycled and repurposed wood, metal and paint. Carved and metal-stamped lettering share the “rules” of the library (take a book, leave a book, it’s ok). The universal symbol for library is stamped on the sides using great book quotes.